Mullineux Single Terroir Iron Swartland Syrah 2022
'Iron' is the fullest bodied of Mullineux's Single Terroir Syrahs. On the nose, it is spicy and savoury, with dark berries. The palate has soft and velvety - yet firm - tannins with hints of orange peel, cloves and white pepper. The wine is brooding, dense and alluring with afresh and long finish.
Grapes for the 'Iron' Syrah are sourced from a single parcel of 19-year-old, organically-farmed, dry land bush vines on the rolling red clay and iron-rich soils west of Malmesbury. The soils are fast-draining, resulting in lower yields and smaller berries. This parcel of Syrah gives the best expression of the “koffieklip” soils – breadth and fullness on the mid-palate.
Grapes were first chilled in Mullineux's cold room. The whole bunches were then put into open top, 500 litre French oak barrels and crushed by foot to release some juice. Minimal SO2 was added and, as with all their wines, no further additions were made. After about four days, fermentation began with indigenous yeasts and lasted about 10 days. The cap was manually punched down once a day before, during and after fermentation. Following a further four weeks of skin contact, the wine was drained and pressed to barrel for malolactic fermentation and maturation. The wine spent 12 months ageing in 500 litre French oak barrels (25% new), followed by nine months in second fill Foudre. After a total of 21 months in barrel, it was bottled unfiltered and unfined.
Founded by Chris and Andrea Mullineux in 2007, Mullineux is one of the most lauded wineries in South Africa, having been named ‘Winery of the Year’ five times by the Platter Guide (in 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2023). Chris and Andrea chose the town of Riebeek-Kasteel, just west of Malmesbury in the Swartland, due to its old vineyards planted on granite and schist soils. They reasoned that, with such quality fruit, they could make outstanding wines. It is an understatement to say they have been proved right.
The Swartland is warm and dry in the summer, benefitting from a cooling afternoon breeze from the Atlantic Ocean, which borders the region to the West. Disease pressure is low, which, in turn, means spraying is kept to a minimum. The fashion for monoculture in the 1970s and 1980s bypassed the Swartland. As a result, most of the vineyards that Chris and Andrea own, or lease are planted with numerous native species like fynbos. These provide a home for native insects, which act as predators of other insects that can damage the vines. Again, this enables spraying to be kept to a minimum. Their estate vineyards are now in conversion to Regenerative Organic, a testament to their longstanding commitment to sustainable viticulture.
30 other products in the same category:
